Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Photo: Allan Warren, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons30

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Consort of Elizabeth II from 1952 to 2021

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark,2

From Wikipedia’s article on Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Jun 10, 1921, died Apr 9, 2021.1

About

later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II and served as consort of the British monarch from her accession on 6 February 1952 until his death in 2021, making him the longest-serving royal consort in British history.

Philip was born in Greece into the Greek and Danish royal families. His family was exiled from the country when he was 18 months old. Educated in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, he joined the Royal Navy in 1939 at the age of 18. In July 1939, he began corresponding with Princess Elizabeth, then aged 13, the elder daughter and heir presumptive of King George VI. During the Second World War, Philip served with distinction in the Mediterranean and Pacific fleets of the Royal Navy.

In the summer of 1946, King George VI granted Philip permission to marry Elizabeth, who was then 20. Prior to the official announcement of their engagement in July 1947, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles and styles, became a naturalised British subject, and adopted the surname Mountbatten from his maternal grandparents. In November 1947, he married Elizabeth, was granted the style "His Royal Highness", and was created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. They had four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward. Following Elizabeth's accession to the throne in 1952, Philip left active naval service, having attained the rank of commander. In 1957, he was formally created a British prince.

A keen sportsman, Philip played a significant role in the development of the equestrian discipline of carriage driving. He served as patron, president, or member of more than 780 organisations, including the World Wide Fund for Nature, and was chairman of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, an international youth awards programme for people aged 14 to 24. Philip was the longest-lived male member of the British royal family. He retired from public duties in 2017 at the age of 96, having completed 22,219 solo engagements and delivered 5,493 speeches since 1952. He died at Windsor Castle in 2021, aged 99.

From Wikipedia’s article on Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • 1939Gordonstoun3 4
  • 1939Britannia Royal Naval College3
  • Since 1928Cheam School3
  • Since 1933Schule Schloss Salem3 4

Upbringing in France, Britain and Germany

Philip's family settled in a house in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud lent to them by his wealthy aunt Princess George of Greece and Denmark. He was first educated at The Elms, an American school in Paris run by Donald MacJannet, who described him as a "know-it-all smarty person, but always remarkably polite". In 1930, Philip was sent to Britain to live with his maternal grandmother at Kensington Palace and with his uncle George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, at Lynden Manor in Bray, Berkshire. He was then enrolled at Cheam School. Over the next three years, his four sisters married German princes and moved to Germany, his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed in an asylum, and his father settled in Monte Carlo. Philip had little contact with his mother for the remainder of his childhood.

In 1933, Philip was sent to Schule Schloss Salem in Germany, which had the "advantage of saving school fees", because it was owned by the family of his brother-in-law Berthold, Margrave of Baden. With the rise of Nazism, Salem's Jewish founder, Kurt Hahn, fled persecution and established Gordonstoun School in Scotland, to which Philip transferred after two terms at Salem. In 1937, his sister Cecilie; her husband, Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse; their two sons; and Georg Donatus's mother were killed in an air crash at Ostend. Philip, then 16, attended the funeral in Darmstadt. Cecilie and Georg Donatus were members of the Nazi Party. The following year, Philip's uncle and guardian Lord Milford Haven died of bone marrow cancer. Milford Haven's younger brother, Lord Louis, assumed parental responsibility for Philip for the remainder of his youth.

Philip did not speak Greek because he had left Greece as an infant. In 1992, he said that he "could understand a certain amount". He stated that he considered himself Danish and spoke mostly English, while his family was multilingual. Known for his charm in his youth, Philip was linked to several women, including Osla Benning.

From Wikipedia’s article on Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: naval officer, military officer, prince consort, polo player.11

Personal life

  • BornJun 10, 1921, Corfu12 13
  • DiedApr 9, 2021, Windsor Castle14
  • CitizenshipUnited Kingdom15
  • ResidenceBuckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham House, Clarence House, Holyrood Palace, Balmoral Castle16
  • SpouseElizabeth II 1947 to 202117 18
  • Children418 19

Family, infancy and exile from Greece

Philip (Greek: Φίλιππος, romanised: Phílippos) was born on 10 June 1921 on the dining room table at Mon Repos, a villa on the Greek island of Corfu. He was the only son and the fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Princess Alice of Battenberg. Philip's father was the fourth son of King George I and Queen Olga of Greece, and his mother was the eldest child of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, and Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven (formerly Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine). A member of the House of Glücksburg, Philip was a prince of both Greece and Denmark by virtue of his patrilineal descent from George I of Greece and George's father, Christian IX of Denmark; he was from birth in the line of succession to both thrones. Philip's four elder sisters were Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie, and Sophie. He was baptised in the Greek Orthodox rite at St. George's Church in the Old Fortress in Corfu. His godparents were his paternal grandmother, Queen Olga of Greece; his cousin George, Crown Prince of Greece; his uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten; and the municipality of Corfu, represented by its mayor, Alexandros Kokotos, and by the president of the council, Stylianos Maniarizis.

Shortly after Philip's birth, his maternal grandfather died in London. The Marquess of Milford Haven was a naturalised British subject who, after a career in the Royal Navy, had renounced his German titles and adopted the surname Mountbatten – an Anglicised form of Battenberg – during the First World War owing to anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom. After attending his grandfather's memorial service in London, Philip and his mother returned to Greece, where Andrew had remained to command a Greek Army division in the Greco-Turkish War.

Greece suffered significant losses in the conflict, while the Turkish forces made substantial gains. Philip's uncle, King Constantine I, who was high commander of the Greek expeditionary force, was blamed for the defeat and forced to abdicate in September 1922. The new military government arrested Andrew and several others. General Georgios Hatzianestis, the army's commanding officer, and five senior politicians were tried and executed in the Trial of the Six. Andrew's life was also believed to be in danger, and Alice was placed under surveillance. In December, a revolutionary court banished Andrew from Greece for life. The British naval vessel HMS Calypso evacuated Andrew's family, with the infant Philip carried to safety in a fruit box.

Read more

In 1939, the British King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. During the visit, the Queen and Lord Louis Mountbatten asked his nephew Philip to escort the royal couple's daughters, 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth and 9-year-old Princess Margaret, who were Philip's third cousins through Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark. Philip and Elizabeth had first met as children in 1934 at the wedding of Elizabeth's uncle Prince George, Duke of Kent, to Philip's first cousin Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. After their 1939 meeting, Elizabeth fell in love with Philip, and they began to exchange letters.

In the summer of 1946, Philip asked George VI for his daughter's hand in marriage. The King granted his request, provided that any formal engagement be delayed until Elizabeth's 21st birthday the following April. By March 1947, Philip had adopted the surname Mountbatten from his mother's family and had stopped using his Greek and Danish royal titles upon becoming a naturalised British subject. The engagement was announced to the public on 9 July 1947.

The engagement attracted some controversy; Philip had no financial standing, was foreign-born, and had sisters who had married German noblemen with Nazi links. Marion Crawford wrote: "Some of the King's advisors did not think him good enough for her. He was a prince without a home or kingdom. Some of the papers played long and loud tunes on the string of Philip's foreign origin." Later biographies reported that Elizabeth's mother had reservations about the union initially and teased Philip as "the Hun". In later life, however, she told the biographer Tim Heald that Philip was "an English gentleman".

Although Philip appeared "always to have regarded himself as an Anglican", and he had attended Anglican services with his classmates and relations in England and throughout his Royal Navy career, he had been baptised in the Greek Orthodox Church. The archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, wanted to "regularise" Philip's position by officially receiving him into the Church of England, which he did in October 1947. The day before the wedding, the King bestowed the style of "Royal Highness" on Philip, and on the morning of the wedding, 20 November 1947, he was created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London. Consequently, being already a Knight of the Garter, between 19 and 20 November 1947 he bore the unusual style Lieutenant His Royal Highness Sir Philip Mountbatten, and is so described in the letters patent of 20 November 1947. Concerned by her father's poor health, Elizabeth insisted that Philip give up smoking, which he did on their wedding day.

Philip and Elizabeth were married in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, recorded and broadcast by BBC radio to 200 million people around the world. In post-war Britain, it was unacceptable for any of Philip's German relations, including his three surviving sisters, to be invited to the wedding. After their marriage, Philip and Elizabeth took up residence at Clarence House. Their first two children were born before Elizabeth's accession in 1952: Prince Charles in November 1948 and Princess Anne in August 1950.

Philip was introduced to the House of Lords on 21 July 1948, immediately before his uncle Louis Mountbatten, who had been created Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Philip is not recorded as having spoken in the House. He, his sons, and other hereditary peers in the royal family ceased to be members following the House of Lords Act 1999, although all peers whose titles were of the first creation were offered life peerages. The only member of the royal family to accept was Philip's former brother-in-law, Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, who therefore remained in the Lords.

From Wikipedia’s article on Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Philanthropy

Charities and patronages

Philip was patron of some 800 organisations, particularly focused on the environment, industry, sport, and education. His first solo engagement as Duke of Edinburgh was in March 1948, presenting prizes at the boxing finals of the London Federation of Boys' Clubs at the Royal Albert Hall. He was president of the National Playing Fields Association (now known as Fields in Trust) for 64 years, from 1947 until his grandson Prince William took over the role in 2013. He was appointed a fellow of the Royal Society in 1951. In 1952, he became patron of The Industrial Society (since renamed The Work Foundation). In the same year, following his father-in-law's death, he took over the role of the Ranger of Windsor Great Park, overseeing its protection and maintenance. From 1955 to 1957, Philip was president of The Football Association and also served two terms as president of the Marylebone Cricket Club, with his tenures beginning in 1949 and 1974, respectively. In the same decade, he became the first patron of Lord's Taverners, a youth cricket and disability sports charity, for which he organised fundraising events.

Between 1959 and 1965, Philip was president of BAFTA. He helped found the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1963 and the World Wildlife Fund in 1961, serving as the latter's UK president from 1961 to 1982, international president from 1981, and president emeritus from 1996. He was also president of the Zoological Society of London for two decades and was appointed an honorary fellow in 1977. Despite his involvement in initiatives for conserving nature, he was criticised for practices such as fox hunting, shooting of game birds, and the killing of a tiger in India in 1961. He was president of the International Equestrian Federation from 1964 to 1986. In 1980, he became world champion in four-in-hand driving with the British national team. He served as chancellor of the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Salford, and Wales.

In 1965, at the suggestion of Harold Wilson, Philip became chair of a scheme established to recognise industrial innovation, which later became known as The Queen's Awards for Enterprise. In the same year, he became president of the Council of Engineering Institutions and, in that capacity, assisted with the inception of the Fellowship of Engineering (later the Royal Academy of Engineering), of which he later became the senior fellow. He also commissioned the Prince Philip Designers Prize and the Prince Philip Medal to recognise designers and engineers who made exceptional contributions. In 1970, he was involved in the founding of The Maritime Trust for restoring and preserving historic British ships. In 2017, the British Heart Foundation thanked Philip for being its patron for 55 years, during which time, in addition to organising fundraisers, he "supported the creation of nine BHF-funded centres of excellence". He was an honorary fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge.

From Wikipedia’s article on Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

  • 2017Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order20
  • 2015Knight of the Order of Australia20
  • 2013Extraordinary Commander of the Order of Military Merit (Canada)20
  • 2012Freedom of the Royal Borough of Greenwich20 25
  • 2012Order of New Zealand20 26
  • 2007Royal Victorian Chain20
  • 2000President's Medal20
  • 1993Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ20 24
  • 1988Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia20
  • 1979Grand Cross of the Military Order of Avis20 24
More awards (31)
  • 1973Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry20 24
  • 1963Albert Medal20
  • 1958Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany20
  • 1958Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic20
  • 1955Grand Cross of the Military Order of the Tower and Sword20 24
  • 1954Royal Order of the Seraphim20
  • 1953Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons20
  • 1952Finnish Olympic Cross of Merit, First Class20 22
  • 1952Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav‎20
  • 1952Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Saint Olav‎20 23
  • 1951Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles20
  • 1947Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer20
  • 1947Knight of the Order of the Elephant20 21
  • Date not recordedCroix de guerre 1939–194520
  • Date not recordedGrand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum20
  • Date not recordedGrand Cross of the Legion of Honour20
  • Date not recordedGrand Cross of the Order of Charles III20
  • Date not recordedGrand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland20
  • Date not recordedGrand Cross of the Order of the Condor of the Andes20
  • Date not recordedGrand Star of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria20
  • Date not recordedHonorary Fellow of the Zoological Society of London20
  • Date not recordedLegion of Honour20
  • Date not recordedLivingstone Medal20
  • Date not recordedMelchett Medal20
  • Date not recordedOrder of Merit of the Italian Republic20
  • Date not recordedOrder of Merit of the Republic of Poland20
  • Date not recordedOrder of Prince Henry20
  • Date not recordedOrder of the Chrysanthemum20
  • Date not recordedOrder of the Elephant20
  • Date not recordedOrder of the White Rose of Finland20
  • Date not recordedanniversary medal at the occasion of the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Iranian Empire20

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30